District and high courts across Japan sentenced a record 30 people to death this year, while 56 death-row inmates did not appeal their sentences or lost appeals as of Monday, according to Kyodo News calculations based on court data.
The figures appear to reflect a trend toward more severe sentences amid an increasing number of heinous crimes. Meanwhile, a suprapartisan group of lawmakers are calling for an end to executions and for the introduction of life imprisonment without parole in place of the death penalty.
High courts sentenced 17 people to death in 2003, the most in 10 years, while district courts handed down death penalties on 13 people -- the third-highest figure after the record high of 18 last year and 14 in 2000. The Supreme Court did not render any judgments to support death sentences this year.
Only one prisoner was executed, the lowest number in 10 years. The hanging took place in September at the Osaka Detention Center.